What is the correct meaning of 'has an axe to grind'

[zippy]

I thought that "someone has an axe to grind" means
he has a favour to ask -- he needs to have his axe ground and you
happened to have a grinding wheel.
However, I have come acrossed lots of situations in which an authors
use this to mean "have a fight to pick."
Are they wrong or are there 2 meanings to it ?
Thanks.

[RonBee]

I know only one meaning for has an axe to grind. Someone who has an axe to grind is looking to pick a fight about something. He is carrying a grudge and looking for trouble.

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[zippy]

That''s what I thought so too --and I havd been using it that way-- but I heard of an other explanation.

I decided to look it up on the web, and found this:
http://phrases.shu.ac.uk/meanings/174000.html

"Have an ulterior motive"
" Origin Benjamin Franklin wrote that a visitor asked him how his grindstone worked. Franklin sharpened the visitor's axe for him when demonstrating, which is apparently what was intended all along."

[RonBee]

Yes, it is used in the sense of "have an ulterior motive", but the connotations are negative. Someone who has an axe to grind may very well have an unstated purpose, but that purpose is usually negative. A person who has an axe to grind is predisposed to argue about one or more things (usually the same things). The phrase does not describe somebody who is out to spread cheer. :)

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[Tdol]

Your suggestion of 'grudge' was better than 'ulterior motive'. :)

[RonBee]

I am not strongly in favor of the "ulterior motive" explanation. People with axes to grind are pretty up front about it. Indeed, speaking out to anybody who will listen is the whole point.

"Don't mention X to Y. He has an axe to grind about that."

They (the axe grinders) get their satisfaction (if that's the right word for it) from complaining.

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